Monday's Long Song

'Gimme an F'

'F!'

'Gimme a 'U'

'U!'

'Gimme a C'

'C'

'Gimme a K'

'K'

'What's that spell?'

'Fuck!'

'What's that spell?'

'Fuck!'

What's that spell?'

'Fuck!'

Deep voice 'War'

This artist- audience exchange is sampled from the 1969 film of the Woodstock festival, Country Joe and The Fish protesting about Vietnam in front of quarter of a million kids*. It kicks off the DSS remix of We Wanna Live by Sandals, a 1993 single on the band's own Open Toe label. The drums rumble in and vocalist/ poet Derek Delves begins his address. 

'Think you know what's right? Think you know what's wrong? How long? Well, it's anybody's guess, we all wake up, get out of this mess...'

We Wanna Live (DSS Remix)

The drums and percussion, courtesy of the four Sandals and on this remix Ashley Beedle, David Holmes, Jagz Kooner and Gary Burns, thump and rattle, everything part of a deep and murky, progressive house sonic stew, acid house that's been through the wringer and is now on the other side of the mother of all comedowns. 

Well, it's late 1993 yeah, over five years since the summer of love, two decades since the dawning of the Age of Aquarius, two years since the first Gulf War, three since the Soviets left Afghanistan, two since Thatcher went, five since Reagan left, four since the Berlin Wall came down and the Cold War suddenly ended and the Soviet Union fractured. Yugoslavia is becoming an ex- state, a civil war and sectarian murder, genocide, already underway. 

In Oslo the PLO and Israel, led by the US President Bill Clinton,  announce a peace process aimed at establishing self- government for Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. A joint declaration about a peace process in Northern Ireland is issued, paving the way for the Good Friday Agreement five years later. 

'If we don't wake up/ We don't get out of this mess'

'We wanna live!'

There's a sitar, raga scales running down, synths and at seven minutes a breakdown, crowd noise and then a lone voice shouting, 'Party!' and the crowd chanting it back, 'Party!'.

Derek returns. 'How long?' 

Flute, more whispered poetry and more questions. 

The questions remain the same. And now, March 2026, there are psychopaths in the White House. No restraint. No control. Reveling in their power to kill. 

'What's that spell?'

* In a weird coincidence, an hour after writing this post I saw that Country Joe McDonald's death had been announced. He died aged 84 due to complications from living with Parkinson's disease. RIP Country Joe. 

Island Earth Is Happening Place

In the early 90s Sandals, a four piece from South London, signed to Acid Jazz and put out a series of 12" singles and an album called Rite To Silence. They came up in conversation in a social media post a few days ago and I thought it was time to put some of their music back up here (the last time they featured was back in 2012).

Sandals came together from the club scene and various record stalls and clothes shops, eventually rehearsing in the storage room of a book/record/clothing shop they ran in London's Trocadero. They mashed together a heady stew of beatnik spoken word poetry, soul, funk and jazz, lots of percussion and bongos, some heavy grooves and early 90s clubland sounds.

Debut single Nothing, from 1992, was produced by Leftfield and predates the trip hop sound by a year or two. Samples of voices, boom- boom- bap drums and whispered/stoned street poetry.

Nothing (Extended Version)

In the same year they put out a second 12" single, produced this time by Gary Burns and Jagz Kooner of Sabres Of Paradise, with a more progressive house sound. It was remixed by DSS (David Holmes and Ashley Beedle). It opens with Country Joe's Woodstock crowd participation exercise, 'Give me an F! Give me a U! Give me a C! Give me a K! What's that spell? What;s that spell?' The techno drums come in and Derek Delves begins singing/chanting about the mess we're in, war, the environment, general madness and bad times. It couldn't be more relevant today, the best part of three decades later, if it tried. This being a 1992 progressive house remix it goes on for twelve minutes, never really letting up. Exhilarating stuff.

We Wanna Live (DSS Remix)

Also from 1992 was this one, A Profound Gas, which I played loads at the time and still sounds great today. Flutes, guitars, pan pipes, chunky drums, production from Leftfield and more beatnik poetry with some memorable lines and imagery.

A Profound Gas (Vocal Mix)

The group disbanded in 1996 having had a second album rejected by London Records. It was eventually released in 2009 in Japan. A copy came my way recently and when I've fully had a chance to listen to it, more Sandals will be coming this way.